Cubby O'Brien has enjoyed a long and successful career as a drummer since his stint as one of the original Mousketeers

Photo: Walt Disney Family Museum

Cubby O'Brien has enjoyed a long and successful career as a drummer...

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Sharon Baird was one of the original Mousketeers on the first season of "The Mickey Mouse Club," on ABC

Photo: Walt Disney Family Museum

Sharon Baird was one of the original Mousketeers on the first...

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Bobby Burgess, one of the original Mouseketeers, signs autographs for fans, including Julia Layne (right) and her mother Jeanne, at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Bobby Burgess, one of the original Mouseketeers, signs autographs...

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Three original Mouseketeers (from left) Bobby Burgess, Sharon Baird and Cubby O'Brien are reunited at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010.

On Monday afternoon, Oct. 3, 1955, a generation of American kids raced home from school, plopped down on their living room floors and waited for their black-and-white TV sets to warm up so they could watch a new show. It wasn't the first kids' show on TV, but they knew this one would be different.

It isn't an exaggeration to say that "The Mickey Mouse Club" forever altered American pop culture. Walt Disney already had the cartoons and animated films and had opened a big amusement park in Anaheim only a few months earlier. But the addition of TV to the corporate vision put a lock on the hearts and minds of American kids that holds fast to this day.

For a couple of hundred folks who braved Saturday's bluster to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, time hasn't stood still, but it hasn't faded from memory either.

Bobby Burgess, Carl "Cubby" O'Brien and Sharon Baird were among the small group of "kids next door" who became the first teenage idols of the TV generation. They may be a bit older these days - Bobby and his wife of 40 years, Kristie, just became grandparents of twins - but they remember their time on the original "Mickey Mouse Club" as if it were yesterday.

39 Mouseketeers

There were actually 39 Mouseketeers from the first incarnation of the show, from 1955-58. The host was bit actor Jimmie Dodd, who wrote many of the songs, including the show's theme song. He was assisted by the show's "Mooseketeer," a burly animator named Roy Williams, who came up with the idea of hats for the kids fitted with Mickey Mouse ears.

Bobby Burgess, among the show's standouts because of his dancing skills, swoon-worthy head of thick hair and constant grin, never really liked wearing "the ears," as he and the others still call the hats.

"We had high pompadours in the '50s," he told the Family Museum audience. "And the ears always messed up your hair."

Saturday's program was moderated by New York writer Lorraine Santoli, a former Disney studio publicist who wrote "The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book" (Hyperion, $9.95 paperback) and who traveled cross-country by train to attend Saturday's event.

The Mouseketeers themselves became, as Sharon put it, "like a second family," and still keep in touch with each other. As kids, Sharon and Annette Funicello were best friends and remain in close contact today. Inevitably, the audience wanted to know how Annette was doing and Sharon, who'd seen her in September, was happy to report that her friend, who has multiple sclerosis, remains "as beautiful as ever on the inside and the outside."

Saturday's program included video of the show's opening, still photos of the kids and a clip from the time Cubby played drums on the show along with his dad, Haskell O'Brien, and older brother Warren. Cubby had started out in the show's Talent Roundup portion but was quickly elevated to the front of almost every group shot you'll ever see of the Mouseketeers, once the show's directors realized he'd pair well with Karen Pendleton.

"People always want to know if Karen and I got married," he told the audience. "And I always answer, 'Yes, but not to each other.' "

While some of their cast-mates have had their ups and downs, most of the Mouseketeers have avoided the kind of scandal that seems to dog many pop stars today.

Not 'Hollywood kids'

The reason, Bobby said, was that even the kids who had some show business experience weren't professional "Hollywood kids."

"My dad was a meatcutter," he said, adding that he grew up in Long Beach, where his family remained even after he'd become famous on the show.

"And I had chores to do every night," Sharon added.

All remained active in show business. Bobby was not only a regular on "The Lawrence Welk Show" for 21 seasons but is also now hosting the just-renewed reruns that show up in syndication on PBS. He also teaches ballroom dancing at Burgess Cotillion, which he and his wife have operated in Long Beach for nearly 25 years.

Cubby, who now lives in Washington state, remains an in-demand professional drummer. Over the years, he's worked with the Carpenters, Andy Williams, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters and, for two seasons, on "The Lawrence Welk Show." He's about to go on tour with Peters after she ends her Broadway run in "A Little Night Music."

Sharon worked in children's TV for years. Her small stature made her perfect for wearing animal costumes in shows by Sid and Marty Krofft, among others, and she was an onstage assistant to the melon-smashing comic Gallagher for a while. Today she is semiretired and lives in Reno, where she does nails at a salon.

They were no longer kids when Walt Disney died in 1966, but it still felt like a death in the family. Sharon was working in Elko, Nev., with her ex-husband and another man in a revue called "Two Cats and a Mouse." When she heard the news about Disney's death, she "cried for hours," she said.

Bobby had had a chance reunion with his mentor only a few months earlier. He happened to be hiking near Devils Postpile National Monument when, coming toward him on the trail was an older man with his head characteristically looking downward.

Mouseke-tidbit: The Mouseketeers weren't allowed to keep their costumes or ears, but Cubby is said to have the biggest collection of memorabilia, including, he said, "Cubby and Karen (Pendleton) cut-out dolls." Sharon has a "Mickey Mouse Club" lunch box (with thermos) and Bobby has "Bobby and Cheryl (Holdridge) cut-out dolls." He also has a single Mickey Mouse slipper, its mate having been lost to a family dog some time in the past.

For more Mouseke-tidbits see Page E8

A little Mouseketeer lore

Here are a few "Mouseke-tidbits" that Mouseketeers Bobby Burgess, Cubby O'Brien and Sharon Baird shared during their visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum this weekend:

-- Asked to sing a song during her audition for the show, Sharon got the Mouseketeer part by singing "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded."

-- Over the years, they were always surprised to find out who their fans were. One time years ago, they were making an appearance and given a dressing room that had been used the day before by Three Dog Night, who'd left a trail of cheese bits, a mousetrap and a note that read, "We were your fans first."

-- Bobby once got out of a speeding ticket in Los Angeles when the cop recognized him and said he'd let him off if he told him about Annette Funicello.

-- Bobby's closest neighbor in Los Angeles is another former Mouseketeer, albeit of a later incarnation of the show: Justin Timberlake.

-- Cubby's dad, the drummer Haskell "Hack" O'Brien, is 96 and lives in San Diego. He's the last surviving Mouseketeer parent.

-- Mouseketeer parents were not allowed on the set after the first day or two of shows. Many of the mothers spent their afternoons waiting in a lobby, knitting. Cubby's mother knitted red, white and blue-striped sweaters for Cubby, Bobby and Tommy (Cole).

-- The Mouseketeers ended up doing a lot of traveling as "ambassadors for Disney," as Cubby put it. Their very first trip came in February 1956 when they were flown to Yuba City, in Sutter County, which had been devastated by a flood of the Feather River on Christmas Eve. The kids put on a belated Christmas show at the Yuba City High School for local kids. Video from that day shows Bobby and Sharon jitterbugging onstage at the high school.

-- Bobby's wife, Kristin, is the daughter of "Lawrence Welk Show" accordionist Myron Floren. Bobby proposed on Valentine's Day on one of the rides at Disneyland.

-- Bobby has copies of all the Disney movies and, as a kid, named his dog Bambi.

-- The Mouseketeers had to attend school three hours a day. Among other subjects, they learned Spanish and, to this day, the three call each other by their Spanish names: Carlito (Cubby), Roberto and Suzita (Sharon).

-- Their favorite teacher was Jean Seaman, who kept their report cards in a box in her garage after the show ended. Bobby always earned A's and B's, while Cubby's grades were more mixed, including a C-plus in spelling. "I'd still get a C-plus today," he said.

-- Host Jimmie Dodd wrote most of the music on the show, including the opening march and the slower-tempo version that closed the show: "Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company. M-I-C - See ya real soon - K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you - M-O-U-S-E."